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SCA/11003/1998 1/ 5 JUDGMENT
IN
THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
SPECIAL
CIVIL APPLICATION No. 11003 of 1998
For
Approval and Signature:
HONOURABLE
MR.JUSTICE KS JHAVERI
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1
Whether
Reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment ?
2
To
be referred to the Reporter or not ?
3
Whether
their Lordships wish to see the fair copy of the judgment ?
4
Whether
this case involves a substantial question of law as to the
interpretation of the constitution of India, 1950 or any order
made thereunder ?
5
Whether
it is to be circulated to the civil judge ?
=========================================================
R
S PRADHAN & 8 - Petitioner(s)
Versus
OIL
& NATURAL GAS COMMISSION & 7 - Respondent(s)
=========================================================
Appearance :
MR
BD KARIA for
Petitioner(s) : 1 - 2,5 - 6, 8,DELETED for Petitioner(s) : 3 - 4, 7,
9,
DS AFF.NOT FILED (R) for Respondent(s) : 1 - 3.
MR RAJNI H
MEHTA for Respondent(s) : 4,
MR RK MISHRA for Respondent(s) : 5 -
8.
=========================================================
CORAM
:
HONOURABLE
MR.JUSTICE KS JHAVERI
Date
: 07/05/2010
ORAL
JUDGMENT
By way of this petition the
petitioners have prayed for the directions, directing the
respondents to refund the amount deducted/recovered from the
additional amount of gratuity payable to the petitioners along with
interest.
The brief facts of the case
are as under :-
2.1 As per the say of the
petitioners, the petitioners have retired from their respective posts
from ONGC. All the petitioners opted for Post Retirement Benefits
Scheme (Short as PRBS)1991 prior to the retirement. Under the said
scheme, the petitioners contributed their dues and were entitled to
Annuity p.m. or quarter as opted by each of the petitioner.
2.2 PRBS pension settled /
decided by the Trust 2/3rd of the pensionary benefits
were contributed to the PRBS and 1/3rd amount was
commuted by each of the petitioner. This amount is fixed as per
provisions of PRBS based on the pay actually drawn at the time of
retirement.
2.3 Gratuity payable to each
of the petitioner on retirement under Rule 5 of the ONGC Death,
Retirement and Terminal Gratuity Rules, 1995 was increased from Rs. 1
lakh to Rs. 2.5 lakhs.
2.4 The PRBS 1991, was
amended retrospectively with effect from 16.11.1995 and made
applicable to the claims of the petitioners which are already
settled.
2.5 Respondents ordered to
recover the difference arising in payment of contribution to PRBS by
the petitioner duly amended PRBS with effect from 16.11.1995 from the
Additional Gratuity Payable to the petitioners as shown in column 12
of the Annexure A to the petition in case of each of the
petitioner. Consequently the petitioners were paid Additional
Gratuity amount after deduction. Hence this petition.
3.
Heard learned Advocates for the respective parties and perused the
documents on record.
4.
Learned Advocate Mr. Mehta produced on record the settlement
letter, which is accepted by the petitioner s advocate. Since the
five petitioners out of nine have withdrawn the petition only four
petitioners are left out. The grievance of the petitioners is that
their additional Gratuity had been withheld by ONGC for a period of
about four and half years from December 1998 to May 2003. In that
view of the matter, the ONGC is directed to pay 8% interest to these
four petitioners on the additional amount of Gratuity withheld by
ONGC.
5.
Accordingly ONGC shall to pay the following interest amount to the
concerned petitioners by cheque within a period of six weeks from
the date of receipt of the writ of this Court.
Sr. No.
Name
Withheld
Gratuity amount
Payable
amount of interest at 8% per annum for four and half years.
1 Petitioner No.2 C.R. Bansal Rs. 1,39,043.00 Rs.50,055.00 2 Petitioner no. 5 S.R.Sharma Rs. 92,172.00 Rs.33,182.00 3 Petitioner No. 6 B.P.Sinha Rs.1,40,0019.00 Rs.50,407.00 4 Petitioner no. 8 Jitendra Nath Rs. 96,603.00 Rs.34,777.00 5.
The petition is therefore disposed of accordingly. Rule is made
absolute to the aforesaid extent with no order as to costs.
[K.S.Jhaveri,J.]
*Himansu
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